Do I need to take anti-inflammatory medicine if the cough does not stop?

Do I need to take anti-inflammatory drugs if I have a persistent cough? Many times, we can actually take some cough suppressants. As for anti-inflammatory drugs, everyone actually needs to know whether their cough is caused by inflammation. If it is due to inflammation, then you can take some anti-inflammatory drugs. If not, then there is no need to use anti-inflammatory drugs. After all, taking too much anti-inflammatory drugs is not good for your health.

During the coughing process and treatment process, we are looking at anti-inflammatory drugs, actually we are referring to antibiotics, whether to use them or not. Because most coughs, from the perspective of infection, should be treated with antibiotics targeting bacterial infections.

But for some of our patients, for example, those with the common cold simply have a sore throat, a runny nose, sneezing, and a low white blood cell count. In this case, antibiotics are ineffective because it is a viral infection.

In fact, viral infection is the main cause. In principle, we should not use antibiotics if we have a cough but have yellow sputum. Many friends called me earlier and asked me whether they should use antibiotics because they had sore throat, runny nose, and a slight fever.

I suggested that he go to the hospital and it would be best not to use antibiotics first. Determine whether it is a bacterial infection. If it is caused by bacterial infection, we need to use antibiotics. If it is not a bacterial infection, we should not use antibiotics. This is the first point.

There are many other reasons for coughing. We just mentioned that coughing can be caused by asthma, aspiration of upper respiratory tract secretions, esophageal reflux, and tumors. We should not use antibiotics for these patients.

It is better to actively find out the cause and choose medication according to the situation. Therefore, you don’t necessarily need to take anti-inflammatory drugs for coughs. Anti-inflammatory drugs are only effective for coughs caused by bacterial infections. The correct approach is: first find out the cause of the cough, and then let a professional doctor decide whether to use anti-inflammatory drugs based on the actual situation.